This was not the first time that Eckhaus Latta beckoned its show-goers across the bridge and into Brooklyn and they had no problem doing so. A sense of reunion characteristic of what a Sunday afternoon should feel filtered in through the multitude of windows that framed the yawning warehouse space. Two rows of black lawn chairs, but elevated in their aesthetic, were laid out alongside the runway for those with seat assignments to lounge in while standing room could still be considered worthy real estate.
Chatter died as the show started revealing gender non-binary silhouettes, a continuous use of Eckhaus Latta’s signature knits but with refined tailoring and more structure. Apparently, as Mike Eckhaus told to Vogue, one of the corsets can actually stand up on its own because of the padding that gives the silhouette, quite literally, a life of its own. Playing with a slashed motif on a number of pieces including a sweater that wore like a grid of sorts and a dress that slightly ballooned at the waist to reveal a chiffon-like, maroon skirt between the lines of hanging strips of grey knitwear were a nod to the “art school” vibes the brand is most associated with. The EL jeans made quite the cameo in a number of looks in dashes of orange and creams, seams laced with tints of tie dye and a denim motif mottled by blood-orange tie dye spaced evenly into stripes of sorts. The standout piece however was a daffodil-hued maxi dress with a cut out under the bust and sleeves that looked more like opera gloves than the latter.
The casting maintained its bolstered sense of diversity woven into its ethos as it featured a range of ages, sizes and races to mirror the audience in attendance in a seamless way. There was no question of “would I wear that?” With Eckhaus Latta, it’s child’s play to imagine oneself in the clothes which is perhaps its biggest appeal after all.